...and now you see the problem. Three gardeners. Three different opinions. That's the way it is with most questions about gardening! Personally, I look at it this way...it's Michigan. Summer is short. I want to get as many blooms as possible. Therefore, I feed. I'm OK with doing more than what's adequate. In fact, I'm shooting for "exceptional." P.S., before you use Milorganite, smell it and consider whether you can stand the smell. It's made from sewage. I put it on my garden one year and it chased my family indoors from the patio until I covered it with fresh mulch. Wheewwww! Even then, we could smell it after a rain. Or sometimes I'd dig up a plant and get a whiff of it. Gag! I admit I'm sensitive to smells. I'm betting MagicKiwi uses it FAR away from the house! K.

Here are the recipes that have been posted on here the past few years. I usually use all light-colored fruit in the yellow one, and cherries in the dark one. This year I'll use blueberries too. I used dried fruit, not candied. Melissa RE: Church of the Besotted Fruitcake * Posted by: Readinglady z8 OR (My Page) on Sat, Oct 8, 05 at 22:29 Here's the recipe from that thread with her comments. (We actually ended up with two lengthy fruitcake threads, as I remember.) I don't think we've heard from Mrs. Bartholomew for a while. Hopefully she returns as fruitcake season moves into full swing. "Here is the recipe I use for Christmas fruitcake - more or less, anyway, because I tend to use different types and proportions of fruits and nuts each year. I candy my own pineapple, angelica, and cherries, but you can use store-bought and give them a good rinse to get the extra sugar off before you use them. Makes two large loaves. 1/2 to 3/4 litre white rum 1 pound candied cherries (substitute angelica for a handful of the cherries, if you have it) 3/4 pound candied pineapple 1/4 pound candied citrus peel 1 pound large sultanas 1/2 pound blanched whole almonds 1/2 pound walnut halves 1 pound unsalted butter, softened 2 and 1/4 cups of sugar 6 large eggs 4 cups of white cake flour (not self-raising) 1/4 cup lemon extract Warm 1/2 litre of the rum until it seems just about to boil, and immediately remove it from the heat. Soak the cherries, pineapple, citrus peel, sultanas, angelica and nuts in the rum overnight. Strain, reserving the rum, and set the fruits and nuts aside in a very large mixing bowl. (You don't have to heat the rum up if it's too much trouble, but it soaks into the fruit much better if it's warm). Beat the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Beat in half of the eggs, then half the flour, then the rest of the eggs, then the rest of the flour, then the lemon extract. Pour the batter over the fruit and nuts and stir well. If your loaf pans are non-stick, just butter them. I use a stick of butter like a crayon to do this. Otherwise, line with buttered parchment paper. Scrape the batter into the pans. Bake in a preheated 300 degree Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes, then cover the pans with foil and bake for another 45 minutes. Watch carefully near the end of the cooking time; as soon as the cakes start to pull away from the edges, or resist when you poke them gently, they are ready. It is better to underbake than overbake. Let them rest on a rack until they've cooled to room temperature. When the cakes have cooled but are still in the tins, carefully poke several holes through each loaf with a long, thin skewer. Heat the reserved rum - again not letting it quite boil - and drizzle it over the cakes. If the fruit and nuts soaked up most of the rum, add another 1/4 litre of rum before heating it. Leave it for 15 minutes so that the rum will more or less soak through the cakes, although some may still remain in the bottom of the tins when you remove the cakes. Wrap each cake carefully for storage. If you have large enough linen pudding-bags, you can lightly moisten these with rum and slip a cake inside each one. Otherwise, you can wrap the cakes in the brown paper they were baked in, which should be thoroughly permeated with the rum. Whether you've used cloth or brown paper, wrap the cakes in another layer of plastic wrap or tuck them into a plastic bag for further protection. The longer you leave the cakes before serving, the better. If you won't be able to resist tasting, pour a little of the batter into a ramekin to bake it separately and eat it while you're wrapping the other two cakes." I can see I need to buy the ingredients soon. Just reading the recipe makes my mouth water. Carol ============================ It's Fruitcake Time Again! Posted by gardengrl Orlando (My Page) on Thu, Oct 6, 05 at 9:03 Hi Everyone, If you remember last year at this time, the Harvest forum had quite a thread going on fruitcakes. Well, last year I made two versions from posted recipes and they were the BEST! I call them "rum cakes" in order to avoid the fruitcake stigma. :-) I made my cakes in October (both a dark cake and a yellow cake), refridgerated them (since I'm in the south), and "basted" them every week with whatever version of alcohol I wanted. They were a hit during Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, go raid your liquor cabinet gang; it's fruitcake time! Here are two recipes from last year; both recipes make 2 fruitcake loaves when baked in a typical loaf pan. I've modified my versions a little from the original recipes. Dark Fruitcake Approximately 25 ounces of golden raisins (add more or less to your preference) 2 cups coarsly chopped walnuts or pecans 2 1/4 cups sifted, all purpose flour 1 cup shortening (I used butter) 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup molasses 5 eggs 3/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp each, cloves and mace (nutmeg) 1/2 cup orange juice 1 cup blackberry jam or preserves Optional: Place raisins and nuts in a glass bowl or pan and cover with dark rum or brandy. Allow to soak 24 hours. Drain and reserve the used liquor when finished. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Mix flour with salt, baking soda, and spices, set aside. Cream shortening or butter until fluffy; Gradually add sugar and molasses. Beat in eggs, add flour mixture in increments until well mixed. Stir in raisins, nuts, orange juice and jam. Line loaf pans with parchment paper. Spray parchment with non-stick spray. Pour batter evenly into two loaf pans and bake approximately 3 1/2 hours (or until toothpick inserted comes out clean). It really depends on how deep you pour the batter. When done, take cakes out of oven, allow to cool for approximately 5-10 minutes. Invert loaf pans, remove cakes, and allow to cool on cooling racks. When cool, take a toothpick and poke holes into the top and bottom of fruitcake. Baste fruitcake with raisin infused rum/brandy, allowing liquor to soak into holes. If your in the south, place cakes in an airtight container and store in the fridge. If up north in a cool environment, wrap cakes in wax paper followed by tin foil, and store in a cool place. Baste cakes with raisin liquor or other dark liquor every week until the holidays. Yellow Fruitcake White rum: optional 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of candied or dried fruit. I use a "harvest mixture" of dried fruit from Sams, which includes dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried strawberris, and dried blueberries. 1/2 pound of nuts (your choice, more or less nuts to your preference) 1 pound unsalted butter, softened 2 1/4 cups sugar 6 large eggs 4 cups of white cake flour (not self rising) 1/4 cup lemon extract Warm rum in a saucepan or microwave until it is just about to boil. If you don't want alcohol, feel free to use a juice of your choice. Place fruit and nuts in a large bowl or pan and pour hot rum/liquid over. Soak overnight, drain fruit and reserve the used liquor when finished. Preheat oven 300 degrees Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in half the eggs, then half the flour, then the rest of the eggs, then the rest of the flour. Add lemon extract. Stir in soaked fruit and nuts. Line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper. Spray paper with non-stick spray. Pour batter evenly into both pans. Bake cakes uncovered for 45 minutes, then cover with tin foil and bake another 45 minutes. Watch carefully near the end of cooking time; as soon as the cakes start to pull away from the edges of the pans, or resist when you poke them gently, they are ready. It's better to underbake than overbake. Remove cakes from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes. Invert loaf pans, remove cakes, and allow to completely cool on cooling racks. Follow basting and storing process as listed for the dark cakes (basting with alcohol optional, you can use fruit juice). Use the reserved dried fruit infused liquor for basting. I alternate basting with Grand Mariner (sp?) every week.

Klick, you can now put me as RECEIVED. Luna's/Jenell's box of wonderful gifts came today. And here is what she sent: -B&B Works lavender aromatherapy bath/shower gel that came in the shape of a champagne bottle -bath beads, bath salts, and bath fizzes -a bag full of Ghirardelli squares-milk chocolate with caramel filling-you used to send those to me two years ago--I still love them! -a cute flowered can cuzee with black feathers around the bottom-woowoo -white chocolate raspberry scented lip balm-it is awesome! -Life Savers fruit tarts-never had these before-really pucker your lips-sooo good! -a very cute flowered pen and sticky note paper set -stickers which I will take to school-the kids will love them -500 piece puzzle of a beautiful building surrounded by gorgeous flowers-I will also be taking this to school. When the kids have a bit of time toward the end of the period, I have a puzzle out for them to work on. This will be perfect! They love to do them. -a beautiful wrought iron scrolled wall hanging of two flowers with leaves and a butterfly. Jenell, I absolutely love this!!! Thank you so much! I can hang something from the end of it, too, I see. -some cool garden gloves-the kind that are porous material on the top so your hands can "breathe," and the palms are rubberized but not so thick that you can't pick up small objects. Great! -3 painted terra cotta planters on a terra cotta tray. Very Pretty. -a new journal with a gorgeous daylily on the front. Jenell, what a beautiful book you chose. I will be using this for my 2007 plant journal. Thank you for this, too. -lock de-icer -AND something I can't wait too take to school and display. A sticker that says WARNING-BEWARE OF THE TEACHER It's done in the usual warning signs that you see of black, red and white. Jenell, when I saw this I just burst out laughing. I LOVE it!!! DEFINITELY worth waiting for! -and last but not least, I now possess The Perfect Man. He's "sweet" and decadently "rich!" Just how a man ought to be!. It's 3.5 oz. of solid milk chocolate in the shape of a muscle man with white shorts with red hearts on them. This guy has a real 6-pak, short stumpy muscled legs, no neck, muscled arms, and a belly button. This is a HOOT! Maryanne, are you jealous??? Jenell, you really made my day with all of the fun, wonderful, and thoughtful things that you sent. If you were here, I would just hug you to pieces. Thank you so much for everything and for being such a wonderful bloomin' friend. Mary Ellen

Hi All, I guess I missed all the July weirdness. I'm glad it didn't last too long. I'm for once getting behind on my box! I have stuff, but it is not yet enough, and I am so tired from work! And now the morons scheduled me to work 7 days in a row! I have next Wed. and Thurs. off, so I hope to have it out then. Michelle, Thunder happens during cold storms. The freak snow thing in Oct. here was weird that night because the power went out and all you couls hear was sirens, tree limbs breaking, and thunder. I do hope the coming weather is not as bad as they are making out to be. Maryanne, Lol! I have trouble putting away the crack pipe. I'm so sorry to hear that your neighbor is not just an idiot, but is a real creep!! I'm not sure how I would handle living next to someone like that. I'm glad you like the tomato seeds. I tried to make it as varied an assortment as I could. If anyone else needs tomato seeds, I still have lots of many kinds just let me know what you want in a tomato! No trade neccessary.(Jeanne you can probably guess I'm sending you some: ) ) Julie, Poo Poo Gaslight, lol! In my head I hear that stripping "Boom chicka boom". Change to "Boom caca boom!" Lol, the weird places mind goes. Did you see the post where I wrote that I had received a letter from Jeanette? She did seem ok. T2, "Cuz they fall for the beer-trick, too." Lol! Susie, I got the Japanese Beetles pretty good for the first time last summer! I sure hope that doesn't happen again. Have a good night everyone, Remy